Disney does villains well (most of the time). Ursula, Jafar, Scar, Lady Tremaine, The Evil Queen, Cruella de Vil, Maleficent, Frollo, Madame Medusa -- I could go on and on about how fantastically evil these characters are. They are fascinating in their twisted vileness: true beacons of malevolence.
But every once in a while Disney does this thing where they have a not-quite-so-abominable villain. Today's example: Edgar, of The Aristocats.
Now, don't get me wrong; Edgar is not a saint. He does make some pretty bad choices. But I would not label him as evil. He certainly is not in the same class as "The mistress of all evil," "the sea witch," or a woman who wants her step-daughter's heart in a box. In fact, I wouldn't even call him a bad person. He made some selfish decisions, but I would consider that pretty normal. Simba made selfish choices. Ariel's whole story is based on her selfishness. Also, Merida. But that's a topic for another day.
What Edgar did was wrong, yes. I won't deny that. Stealing an old woman's cats and abandoning them in the countryside is not a nice thing to do. And from the cats' perspectives he is villainous, but what fascinates me about Edgar is how very relatable and not-evil he is.
The first act of the movie actually sets Edgar up as a rather kind person. He is polite and dedicated to his mistress. It is never said just how long he has served her, but he's been there long enough for her to leave him as the heir of her multi-million dollar estate. He takes care of her pets in abundance, literally bringing them their food on a silver platter. He lets the kittens jump and climb all over him without any complaint whatsoever. He is loving to his horse. When he is confronted with a crazy old lawyer he takes great (literal) pains to make sure the man is safe, comfortable, and at ease. Not only does he laugh along at George's unimaginative jokes for the umpteenth time, but he gives the man a piggyback ride up the rather tall and grand staircase, even after nearly losing his pants, having his suspenders stretched well beyond their limit, and getting hammered by the man's body. Yet he never says an unkind word to George or Madame about his mistreatment.
When he does decide to get rid of the cats, he is, in my non-cat-loving opinion, rather nice about it. He could have killed them just as easily as drugging them, but he didn't. He provided them shelter and took them out to a farm in the countryside. There is no reason to believe that he would have taken them to the farmhouse or some other country home if he hadn't been attacked by Napoleon and Lafayette. He didn't intentionally dump them on the side of the river -- they fell out of his sidecar as he was fleeing for his life. So though it was unkind and dishonest toward his mistress, he certainly wasn't evil.
If you were given the opportunity to inherit a multimillion dollar estate and all you had to do was relocate a couple of cats, wouldn't you at least consider it? Would you do it? This is why I love Edgar. He isn't some demonic creature bent on worldwide destruction. He's human. He's just like you or me. Maybe that's what makes his demise so poignant.
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